coast districts, although there are bearing Lychee trees in that area. Careful search will doubtless discover suitable land there for commercial planting.

The limiting factor in the development of the Lychee in Florida will probably be suitable available land, as so much of the land upon which Lychees would thrive is planted to citrus.


There are some plantings in the Oviedo and Merritt Island districts that offer fine prospects. These are in capable hands and should do well. The Lychee tree has grown well on the east shore of Lake Okeechobee and a few trees are fruiting there. There are scattered Lychee developments in the Palm Beach, Miami and Homestead areas where they found suitable soil. There are new plantings of one, five, ten and twenty acres in a number of locations throughout South Florida.

At this time, the largest commercial planting is on the west coast at Lychee Orchards, Inc., Laurel, Sarasota County, Florida. This planting represents one of the first efforts to develop the Lychee on a commercial scale in the United States. Several years ago, planting began as fast as air-layered trees from proven stock of fine quality could be obtained. They are making good growth on several types of soil and a number are now of bearing age. The sale of young air-layered trees from this planting accounts largely for the initial development of the industry in Florida

Until about six years ago, the commercial development of the Lychee in Florida made little progress. Some officials of the departments of agriculture of the United States and Florida were enthusiastic about it on account of the fine flavored fruit, produced, but their organizations, largely through lack of funds and man power, were unable to treat it other than as a welcome step-child. Recently sufficient progress has been made to demonstrate the practicability of its commercial development on thousands of acres of Florida land.

The cost of an orchard of Lychees should be about that of a citrus grove, except for the additional cost of the trees, which are higher than for citrus trees. As stated above, the recommended planting of Lychee trees is forty feet apart, but with one in the center of each square, requiring fifty trees to the acre. After about four years the Lychee outgrows citrus on suitable soil. Cultivation should be about the same as for citrus except that up to date Lychees in Florida have developed no diseases.

During the last few years, the Lychee has demonstrated its ability to grow and fruit in numerous locations and on sev-